Tag Archives: mindfulness

When Jason and I recorded the second podcast for this program (which, btw, you can still sign up for!), I told him that I often read yoga and meditation research — for fun. He somewhat incredulously blurted out, “Nerd!” because he had no idea that I love poring over Harvard Health’s recent round-up or that I visit Richard Davidson’s site on the regular just to see if there’s anything new…

But it’s true – I do. In part, it comes from my years of writing short health pieces. But it’s also because the research inspires me. We all get bored in our practice from time to time. Reading the research is part of how I bargain with myself to sit down and do the practice. Even after all these years, I still need need reminders about why this practice is so valuable. Plus, I genuinely love seeing how science is starting to measure the things we inherently know when we engage with these practices over long periods of time – that they make us more empathic, that happiness is a skill, that somehow we aren’t as triggered by stress anymore.

With that in mind, here are three of my favorite meditation studies (I include lots more in the program):

Compassion Meditation Changes the Brain

More than 10 years ago, Richard Davidson’s team published a study in PLOS One indicating that “positive emotions such as loving-kindness and compassion can be learned in the same way as playing a musical instrument or being proficient in a sport.” Brain scans of 16 monks who were exposed to distressing human sounds showed increased activity in regions of the brain associated with emotion sharing and empathy compared to a control group. Access the study here >>

Mindfulness Increases Grey Matter

This study, led by Harvard neuroscientist Sara Lazar, showed that after just 8 weeks of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), participants demonstrated increases in areas of the brain associated with compassion and empathy, memory, and concentration. In addition, the participants’ amygdala got smaller! The amygdala is associated with fear and the fight or flight response. Access the study here >>

Meditation May Protect the Aging Brain

When researchers at UCLA compared the brains of meditators to non-meditators they found that meditator’s brains were almost a decade younger by the time people reach their mid 50s. Research is still ongoing, but the hope is that meditation may help protect against age-related decline. Access the study here >>

This week, I talk with Ty Powers. You might know Ty as the husband of my personal yoga teacher, Sarah Powers. He’s also an incredibly insightful teacher in his own right, a meditation teacher, and coach. Recently, he’s also been leading workshops called Changes and Transitions in Midlife–something that is of particular interest to me now that I’m in my 40s.

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

*Ty talks briefly about parenting and race and how both of those things have impacted his life

*We commiserate about the challenges of having a spouse who’s an international yoga teacher

*We talk about how things change once a person gets into their 40s and 50s , the process of aging and how to make sense of the changes to your body. And Ty shares why he thinks people are beginning to ask the big questions about life and spirituality earlier today than ever before.

*How, culturally, we’re missing the mark in preparing for all of life’s transitions, and how practices like yoga and meditation can help us to prepare ourselves for that process

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SHOUT-OUT TO OUR SPONSORS

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I’m so excited to share this interview with Dr. Will Cole! Dr. Cole is a functional medicine doc whose new book, Ketotarian, offers a mostly plant-based approach to the ketogenic diet that’s much healthier than the traditional bacon and bunless burgers regimen.

I’ve been on the ketogenic diet for a few years and I value Dr. Cole’s approach — it’s compassionate, research-driven,and balanced. Plus, it was a real treat for me to bounce all of my keto questions off of someone! I got to ask Dr. Cole:

* Is the ketogenic diet really suitable for everyone?
* What’s the science and history behind it?
* What’s his advice for balancing the strict aspects of keto without going overboard into orthorexia?
* If you’re in overall good health, how can keto be beneficial to you?
* We also talk about soy, lechtins, fancy cows, and the importance of self-compassion when approaching any eating plan.

RECOMMENDED AND RELATED LINKS

WRITE A YOGA PODCAST REVIEW

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! It makes it easier for others to find the podcast. If you don’t know how to leave a review, here are some step by step instructions. Woohoo! So easy!

SHOUT-OUT TO OUR SPONSORS

1. I love cooking but even I get tired of the grind day after day. One thing that’s helped me immensely is Sunbasket meal delivery service — they offer organic produce and clean ingredients and many different types of meal plans. Their food is so delicious and I LOVE how creative they are! Go to sunbasket.com/yogaland to get $35 off your first order.

2. LOLA is a female-founded company offering 100organic cotton tampons, pads, and liners. For every purchase, LOLA donates feminine care products to homeless shelters across the U.S. For 40% off all subscriptions, visit mylola.com and enter the code YOGALAND when you subscribe.

3. Care/of is a monthly subscription vitamin service made from high, quality ingredients personally tailored to your exact needs. Their short quiz asks you about your diet, health goals, and lifestyle choices and uses these answers to create personalized vitamin packs just for you. For 25% off your first month of personalized care/of vitamins, visit takecareof.com and enter promo code YOGALAND.

Ai Kubo received a PhD in cancer epidemiology from Columbia University, and has nearly 40 scientific publications in peer-reviewed medical journals. Years ago, Kubo was told flat out, by one of the most renowned mindfulness researchers, not to try to create (and fund) mindfulness studies.

At that time, studying mindfulness and yoga was too fringe, she was told. She heeded this advice and spent a decade studying the effect of nutrition on cancer. But, as a yoga teacher, she felt that something was missing, so she decided to change the focus of her research.

These days, Kubo is hard at work creating studies that examine the effect of mindfulness for cancer patients and their families in reducing stress and depression. We had a lively conversation about her current studies, her approach to eating and living in a way that minimizes cancer risk, and the details on her 3-week Mindfulness Cleanse, which focuses on helping the body rest and reset.

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! It makes it easier for others to find the podcast. If you don’t know how to leave a review, here are some step by step instructions. Woohoo! So easy!

SHOUT-OUT TO OUR SPONSORS
1. I love cooking but even I get tired of the grind day after day. One thing that’s helped me immensely is Sunbasket meal delivery service — they offer organic produce and clean ingredients and many different types of meal plans. Their food is so delicious and I LOVE how creative they are! Go to sunbasket.com/yogaland to get $35 off your first order.

2. To my women listeners out there – have you tried Lola yet? LOLA is a female-founded company offering organic cotton tampons, pads, and liners. For 40% off your first order, visit mylola.com and enter the code YOGALAND40 when you subscribe.

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“Meditation and yoga are for New Age, magical thinkers who are out of touch with reality and have too much time on their hands.”

These might have been some of my own personal excuses I made to the person that was dragging me to my first yoga class more than 20 years ago. She didn’t listen to me. And, really, why should she have listened? I was wrong on all counts. At the time, it was unclear just how profoundly wrong I was. Time would tell a different story.

So, what was my deal? Well, it was simple: I didn’t understand anything about meditation or yoga. So, my mind made up an incorrect story based on very little information. If this sounds familiar, it’s because we all do it from time to time. One of the many problems with this hard-headed tendency is that we cut ourselves off from experiences that can be incredibly valuable to us—like yoga and meditation.

If we fast-forward two decades to the present moment, I do meditate and I do practice yoga. Both are inextricable elements of my life. If you’re familiar with my classes or online content, you already know that I practice yoga. It’s possible, however, that you don’t know that I meditate. I do. Here’s why.

Why I Meditate

There are countless modern articles that extol the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of meditation. Arguably the entire tradition of yoga would not exist without meditation. Personally, I meditate for three reasons—any other positive side effects of my sitting practice are an added bonus:

1) Sometimes my life feels like a run-on sentence and my meditation practice gives me much needed punctuation. Like everyone else I know, I jump from one thing to another thing in a seemingly endless series of minor events. My meditation practice helps me press the pause button in my life. It helps curb my neurotic impulse to plow through every moment of my life without registering any of them.

2) My meditation practice helps me bear witness to the sensations of my body, the thoughts of my mind, and the feeling of my breath. All of these things are genuinely interesting to me. I’ve always been curious about the human condition and my meditation practice gives me a live glimpse into the phenomenon.

3) My meditation practice balances my active practice by providing me with a complementary physical experience. I like to work intensely in my body. But, I also like the sensory experience of being still. Working intensely and being still both provide physical feedback loops that I use to focus my attention. For me, they’re an inseparable pair.

5 Common Excuses for not Meditating—and why MOST of them are weak

Excuse #1, “My mind isn’t still.”

Counterpoint: Your mind is never going to be still. Never. And, whoever gave you that impression didn’t meditate either. Instead, when you meditate, you’re going to simply observe the activity of your mind so that you can witness your thoughts with greater objectivity. Your mind will still be active because you’re still alive. But, when you meditate consistently, your mind’s activity (usually) settles just enough that there is a lessening of pressure around your thoughts.

Excuse #2, “I don’t have time.”

Counterpoint: You actually do have time, you’re just in the habit of doing other things with your time. And, honestly, you may not be able to make time for meditation every day of your life. Life can get away from us once in a while. However, sitting for 10 minutes a few times a week is plausible for nearly everyone.

Excuse #3, “Meditation is for New Age, magical thinkers who are out of touch with reality and have too much time on their hands.”

Counterpoint: What kind of a person would think this?!?!

Excuse #4, “I can’t sit still.”

Counterpoint: Honestly, this is someone of sound and able body saying, “I can’t move.” Yes, you can. You can sit still. You might be lousy at sitting still. Sitting still might drive you crazy. But, you can sit still. In fact, this makes me think that you might need some practice sitting still. But, wait, how can one practice sitting still??? Oh, that’s right.

Excuse #5, “I don’t know how to meditate.”

Counterpoint: This is NOT lame. This is legitimate. Like so many other things in life, it’s helpful to have some guidance when you’re starting something new—or, trying to stay consistent. If this is your excuse, you’re in luck. I have answers for you below.

How to Start Meditating: Yoga and Meditation Tips for People Who Don’t Meditate

There are countless resources on meditation online, in books, and in local communities. Here are a few resources that you may find helpful.

#1. I’ve released a program on Yogaglo.com called, “I Don’t Meditate.” Clearly, this program was the inspiration for the title of this blog and my recent podcast on Yogaland with Andrea Ferretti. The program consists of 6, 10-minute meditations. You can learn more about the Yogaglo program, here. And, if you haven’t listed to the podcast, please check it out here. Yogaglo has additional meditation classes from exceptional teachers like Sally Kempton, Harshada Wagner, and more.

#2. Jack Kornfield and other meditation teachers at Spirit Rock in Woodacre, CA and the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, are exceptional resources. Jack—and many of the other teachers at Spirit Rock—offer podcasts, guided meditation, and dharma talks that will provide you with endless guidance along the path of meditation.

#3. Local dharma teachers or groups in your area can provide you with guidance and community. Not everyone will have access to a local community of meditators. However, many do. You may even consider driving to a meditation center or sitting group once a month if you live further away. These communities provide support and inspiration that can be invaluable.

I hope that these resources will get you sitting, taking inventory of yourself, and making sure that you don’t make the mistake that I made of saying that you “don’t meditate.”

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Andrea Ferretti and Jason Crandell are a husband and wife team who have been teaching, writing about, and living their yoga for nearly two decades. Andrea is creative director for Jason Crandell Yoga Method. Jason is an internationally recognized vinyasa yoga teacher. They live together in San Francisco with their full-time boss, Sofia-Rose Crandell, age 5. To find out where you can train with Jason live, check out the Schedule page.